What happened here?
The New York Yankees went from convincing both Hideki Matsui and Masahiro Tanaka to sign with them to … getting shunned on every other Japanese superstar since. It’s quite impressive, actually. They’ve also done this with most of the free agent market in general!
Think about it. Who have they signed to big contracts in free agency in recent years? Gerrit Cole back in 2019. Carlos Rodón in 2022. Marcus Stroman in 2023. That is literally it. Everybody else they either traded for or retained. This is no longer the free agent destination it once was.
And that’s why we’re no longer fully blaming the promixing of the West Coast to Japan as the main culprit here. Money and legacy talk, no matter who you are. The Yankees got shunned by Shohei Ohtani for whatever reason, and then got gamed by Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Next in line? Roki Sasaki. And the Yankees are nowhere to be found in these rumors, which is absolutely insane because he will only be subject to international bonus money. He’s not a real free agent. There’s a max on what he can be offered.
In fact, per the last MLB.com article discussing Sasaki destinations, the Boston Red Sox were identified as the top landing spot in the AL East. The Yankees aren’t even the perceived favorite in their division!
Yankees Rumors: Roki Sasaki unlikely to land in New York as Red Sox loom
The Red Sox have historically been a destination for Japanese players, too, but they’ve still largely underwhelmed on most fronts in recent years. They signed Masataka Yoshida to a $105 million contract but they’re already looking to trade him, per reports.
While it’s not outlandish to consider them a landing spot for Sasaki, what would be the attraction here at the moment? This is not a playoff team without the necessary additions this offseason, and the jury is still very much out on that. How is a third-place team already dubbed the favorite over the AL pennant winner? At this point, if a Japanese player is coming to the east coast, why wouldn’t it be with one of the best teams?
The Yankees might have made the World Series in 2024, but they had the cleanest path and then choked when it mattered most. They remain a laughingstock among the league’s contenders and have withered away as a premier landing spot for the sport’s top talent, and we don’t know exactly why (although we do have an idea). If they watch Sasaki go to a division rival, that will only further confirm how far they’ve fallen. And it’s particularly upsetting that the existence of multiple Japanese legends in NYC have not swayed the modern day group of stars.
This was just for the sake of argument because everybody knows he’s signing with the LA Dodgers anyway.
